2015 could witness up to 1,500 phone launches: Report

New Delhi: As mobile phone brands such as Xiaomi, Asus, Motorola, Obi etc slug it out for increasing their market share in India, around 1,400-1,500 new models are expected to be launched in 2015, a report said today.

“We expect around 1,400-1,500 phone launches in 2015, up around 20 per cent from 2014,” 91mobiles.com said in a report.

Last year witnessed 1,137 total phone launches whereas in 2013 the number stood at 957.

The research and comparison website for mobile phones and gadgets, has a database of over 20,000 devices and claims over 40 million people visited the website in 2014.

“The trend will continue as the new brands such as Xiaomi, Motorola, Asus, Obi etc look to intensify their presence in the Indian market, while the incumbents are likely to put up a strong fight by launching several devices that cater to a larger variety of consumer preferences and price points,” Mathur said.

The report said second or third-time smartphone buyers were moving up to higher-end devices in 2013 and 2014.

“However, in starting early to mid 2014, offerings from several new brands like Xiaomi, Motorola, Lenovo and Asus started providing the specs and reliability of higher end devices within the Rs 5-15k price range.”

It said such devices also allowed consumers to opt for faster upgrade cycles instead of buying 40k+ phones, which they would then have to use for longer.

“This led to average selling price of smartphones to fall by 18 per cent in 2014,” it added.

The report said this trend of value for money devices dominating is likely to continue in 2015, although the Rs 15,000-Rs 25,000 range is likely to grow in popularity.